Children to Daly: "Do your job!"
Yesterday, a group of about 100 elementary school-age children marched around the neighborhood of 16th and Mission -- the location of Chris Daly's campaign headquarters. Their message? "Clean up our neighborhood!" As Jill Tucker's story in the SF Chronicle put it, the "neighborhood (is) often overrun by gang violence, drugs, prostitution and homelessness". One child's sign read "Please don't buy or sell drugs near our school". Third-grader Fernando Charre told Ms. Tucker that he was concerned about the litter hazardous to children being thrown onto the sidewalk by grown-ups. "I feel like angry and sad. They're throwing stuff on our street and that's not safe."
Indeed, with the open prostitution that goes on on Capp Street (a half-block from Daly's headquarters) and the open drug-dealing that takes place within a 2 block radius of it, the 16th and Mission area is one of the most dangerous and crime-ridden in San Francisco. Any other Supervisor might've seen this as a challenge worth taking on, but apparently not Chris Daly. It's all part of Daly's larger attitude about "quality of life" issues -- that they're not a priority for him to deal with. Instead, he chooses to blame such problems on the SFPD, even though they are under-staffed by about 200 officers and can't spare the manpower for foot patrols.
SF Chronicle photo by Liz Hafalia
Indeed, with the open prostitution that goes on on Capp Street (a half-block from Daly's headquarters) and the open drug-dealing that takes place within a 2 block radius of it, the 16th and Mission area is one of the most dangerous and crime-ridden in San Francisco. Any other Supervisor might've seen this as a challenge worth taking on, but apparently not Chris Daly. It's all part of Daly's larger attitude about "quality of life" issues -- that they're not a priority for him to deal with. Instead, he chooses to blame such problems on the SFPD, even though they are under-staffed by about 200 officers and can't spare the manpower for foot patrols.
SF Chronicle photo by Liz Hafalia
posted by the clicker at 10:39 AM
2 Comments:
As far as I can tell from your account, the children did not mention the county supervisor or the supervisorial elections.
Putting words in the mouths of children is not gentlemanly.
Such prevarication, Martha! The facts that are apparent in this story are simple: children in D6 -- right across the street from Daly's re-election headquarters -- are doing two things. One, they are asking those who make up their neighborhood (which falls under Chris Daly's jurisdiction) to help make it a cleaner and safer place for them, because they feel endangered. And two, they are trying to raise awareness among the community that these problems exist.
Obviously, their teachers feel the same way. I think it's a very good bet that their parents feel the same way. The police are overworked and understaffed, but we know they feel the same way. So, who else is there to turn? To their elected representative.
The fact is that prostitution is an epidemic on Capp St. The fact is that drug sales take place without rest all along the Mission corridor, even around an elementary school. The fact is that their Supervisor could do things to constructively address address these problems, but many people don't believe that he has done nearly enough.
It's "not gentlemanly" to get paid $120,000 a year while the children you work for have to deal with pushers and addicts and used needles and condoms on the sidewalk right next to their school.
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